Breathe
by luvnstuff15
Summary: He wants to live, not just survive. And he will not be silent any longer. Short stories about Jack's life.
1. Learning A New Trade

_Author's Note:_

_This is mostly going to be one-, two-, or three-shot stories. Some might get four but it isn't likely. Most will be on Jack Frost. _

_**Warning**: Headcanons. That is a lot of what will be written about. If one of these stories has a headcanon, it will be written out in the author's note before the story begins. _

_Some of these stories will have OCs in them. The stories in this fanfiction, unless stated otherwise, will be in character, will not be an alternate universe, and there will be no slash... at least, not a lot. Maybe small hints at times. _

_This story is rated T for brief language and an occasional adult theme (the only time there will be language is in the headcanon quotes, as they will be verbatim). **I will alert ahead of time what the story will be covering if it is not "innocent."**_

_I do not own Rise of the Guardians. Enjoy. _

_Oh, one last thing: if you have a request/idea/headcanon of your own, PM me about it and I'll see what I can do. Credit for headcanons are at the end of each story. _

_These stories will all be post-movie unless stated otherwise._

* * *

**Headcanon: **

**Jack might be an artist when it comes to snow and frost.**

**But he cannot wrap presents for shit.**

* * *

"Jack Frost! Come, come quick!" shouted the Spirit of Wonder. He bursted through the double doors of his study and found Jack sitting on the window sill, staring out into the blizzard that raged outside.

Jack looked up, seemingly snapping out of this thoughts. "What's wrong?"

"It is yeti! He cannot work anymore!"

Jack's posture straightened. This sounded serious. "Well, did you overwork him?" he asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow at North.

North scoffed, "Of course not! Yetis need break, too. Would you mind taking place of yeti while he takes break?"

The Spirit of Fun's face brightened, making it a little paler than normal. The yetis were the toymakers here. That meant that he could design, create, and color a toy; his creation would be sent to a child in less than a week! It gave him a wonderful opportunity to pull some pranks on the other workers, too. "Alright, I'm in."

North beamed, "Good! Come, I will show you work station."

Jack arose and followed North through the Toy Factory. They passed several toy stations, where yeti after yeti was giving the finishing touches on the toys they had created. Each toy was then transported into a set of double doors behind their working tables.

Jack couldn't suppress his excitement when they reached an empty work table. He placed his staff across the table and stood opposite of North. "Okay, where do I begin?" he asked, eyes beaming.

North laughed a hardy laugh and walked around to where Jack was standing. "You cannot work right here!"

Confusion clouded Jack's face. "But I thought you said I would-"

"Yes, you work, but not here." North stated, gently placing a hand on Jack's back and guiding him through the double doors behind the work station. "You work here."

Jack was astounded by what he saw: toys. Everywhere. But these toys were not like the ones that flew by themselves or sat in neatly stacked rows on a work table. These toys were wrapped - with wrapping paper, a bow on top, and a "to/from" sticker neatly filled out.

Jack's stomach dropped. This was not good.

"You will be taking place of yeti for three hours."

Jack's stomach dropped lower than before.

"Each present will be wrapped, addressed, and placed in that stack over there."

Jack didn't turn to see the stack North was referring to, but he knew it must have been huge.

"And... My quota?"

"Five hundred."

Jack's stomach hit the floor. Five hundred!? How on earth was he supposed to wrap and address five hundred presents in three hours? He had to say something to North about this.

"Uh, North...?"

Jack turned to tell North that, as much as he wanted to help, he could not. But when he looked to his right, North was gone.

Jack huffed and stomped over to his work table. He absentmindedly picked up the box that was his "guide" on how to wrap a present.

See, the truth was, Jack could not wrap presents. He could make the most intricate designs of frost on windows, freeze lakes over, make no two snowflakes that looked the same, and even make it snow indoors... but he could not wrap a present. The best he could do when it came to presents was give children a white Christmas or make a present out of ice, or something.

He stared at the little doll that had been placed in front of him. It was already boxed, so that made his job a little easier. But still, this was going to be difficult.

Jack tugged up at his sleeves slightly, exposing his wrists. He handled the doll gently. The wrapping paper, a list of names attached to a clipboard and other supplies were to his left, the monster stack of unwrapped toys and the small wrapped present to his right. He stared at the small gift, trying to piece together how to wrap this toy without making it look like an elf did it.

He glanced around the room: yetis were working diligently, some of them wrapping and stacking six presents in one minute. As soon as one would finish its shift another would enter and continue right where the last one had left off. He watched the yetis and how they wrapped their presents. The yetis would take the wrapping paper from the roll, place the toy in the center, cut the paper and finish wrapping the gift. Then they were stacked into a neat pile. Jack couldn't see more than ten seconds worth of what was happening because these creatures were working so fast.

Jack sighed again. He took the roll of wrapping paper and tugged at the end. It unrolled smoothly and gracefully, almost as if it already knew what it was supposed to be doing. He placed the doll at the edge of the paper and, grabbing the scissors, cut the wrapping paper. Immediately he knew he had messed up. He was able wrap the front and back of the box, but the sides were entirely exposed. He pulled a long strip of tape and covered where the wrapping paper met at the ends. He turned the present on its side and repeated what he had done before.

Except things went wrong again. He had an inordinate amount of excess paper sticking out on the sides. After applying another long strip of tape, he glanced at the yeti at the next table. It was folding the extra paper over the present then taping it down. So Jack mimicked the yeti, but once again it looked _wrong_. The other presents looked so sharp and clean, while his looked as if a three-year-old had wrapped it.

He quietly slammed his fist on the table in frustration. He ripped the wrapping paper off the toy and tossed it to the floor. A yeti glanced at him but he didn't care. He wasn't going to move onto the next gift until this one was wrapped perfectly.

After thirty of minutes of wrapping, ripping off the wrapping paper, and rewrapping the toy, Jack threw his hands up in frustration. He ran a hand through his hair and tried again. Another fail. And another. And another.

Jack hadn't noticed that a yeti was standing beside him, watching as he worked. He turned and started. "I didn't see you there."

The yeti replied something in yetish that Jack didn't care to attempt to translate. Not that he ever would be able to, anyway.

"Well, now that you've seen me fail, you can go complain to North and have your station back," Jack said sourly. He became slightly more annoyed that the yeti hadn't moved. Jack turned back to the table and started working again, before yelling in aggravation at another failed attempt.

The yeti said something again and gently pushed Jack to the end of the work table.

"Hey! I was working!"

It shushed him and pointed at the wrapping paper, then the toy. The yeti pulled out more wrapping paper from the roll and placed the toy face down on top of it - except the toy was planted in the center, not at the edge like Jack had been doing. He realized the yeti was giving him a lesson and watched intently as the yeti slowly wrapped the present.

Soon the doll was wrapped beautifully, with a bow on top and a "to/from" sticker addressed to Allison from Santa.

Jack mentally thanked the yeti and watched as it walked back to its station. It was the same yeti that had been watching him since he had arrived.

He smiled and did what the yeti had just done on a new toy, this one being a helicopter. When he finished wrapping the present, he frowned. It was significantly better than they had been before, but it still did not look up to par with the toy that the yeti had just finished wrapping.

Jack laughed. Nothing about the situation was funny, but laughing made him feel a little better. He addressed the toy to James and moved on to the next one.

This one turned out just a tad bit better than the toy for James. Jack smiled and stared at his wrapped present. It wasn't near as good as the one for Allison, but he didn't mind.

He was finally getting better, and with each present he wrapped, it looked better than the last.

In his three hours, he only had twenty presents wrapped. He got a lecture from North about how he should have said something about not being able to wrap presents, about how he can talk to North about these kinds of things, about how he shouldn't be embarrassed, about how Bob (the yeti he took over for) would have to work extra hard to meet the quota, and other things Jack only half-listened to.

Regardless of how unsatisfactory Jack's job had been, he was still smiling. He was glad that he had learned something - even if he wasn't able to gift a child with a toy for Christmas, he could give them something he knew they would love: a beautiful and silent snow fall that they would be thrilled to play in. And that was satisfactory enough for Jack.

* * *

_A/N: There you have it. Next one-shot should be out either tomorrow or the day after. _

_Credit for headcanon: ijackfrost . tumblr . com. _

**ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE_: I am open to writing about anything. And I mean _****anything**_. These short stories will range from angst, humor, adventure, comfort, to romance. Don't be afraid to ask! Also, nothing should be NSFW, but if it is, I'll let you know. _


	2. Fish Hooks and Scars

_**Author's Note**__:_

_**Warning: This story contains self-harm. Read at your own risk.**_

_Sorry I took such a long time. I had final exams to study for. _

_Inspired by ijackfrost's (of Tumblr) reply to an anonymous asker._

_Pre-movie._

* * *

**Headcanon:  
Jack Frost cut himself.**

* * *

It had been a month since he had risen from the lake - but it felt as if years had passed. Jack was new to the world and was still having trouble grasping the idea that no one could see him. He was filled with nothing but confusion, sadness, anger, and loneliness. Nothing made sense to him anymore. The idea that he could not be heard or seen was still a shock to him, and he was horrified by it. He could kick, scream - nothing would work. Everyone just walked by him, not sparing even a passing glance. It made him feel very down. He couldn't wake up in the morning (if he even went to sleep) without wishing he didn't exist.

Jack had been sitting in a tree, dozing when he was startled awake by the sound of laughter and footsteps. He watched as three boys - two appeared to be brothers while the third was probably just a friend - trekked to the lake, carrying fishing gear. He recognized them as kids that lived in the village he would visit off and on when he wasn't freezing things or trying to teach himself how to fly.

Jack was gently deposited onto the ground by the wind. He casually walked over to the boys and greeted them. They did not answer. His shock faded quickly once he remembered that he was, in fact, dead. Or invisible. Jack didn't like using the word "dead."

So instead of trying to talk, he decided to listen.

The boys arrived at the edge of the lake and set down their fishing gear. They were gossiping about girls and recent events - things Jack did not care to listen to. He was instead walking circles around them, examining their fishing gear.

"So you guys like to fish? Well good luck. I didn't see any when I was in there," he said jokingly. But his words made him feel uncomfortable and awkward. He had to constantly remind himself that they could not hear him.

"Hey, guys. Did you know that, like, a month ago, some guy fell into the lake and died?"

Jack stopped dead in his tracks. "What?" He whispered.

"What? No way," answered the second teenager, the younger of the brothers.

"Swear on it!"

Jack stepped closer to the teens as they continued talking. They _had_ to have been talking about him. It made sense, after all. He woke in freezing cold water, and he was lifted out of the ice. His name had the word "Frost" in it, too! They were talking about him, Jack _knew_ it.

"Guys, I'm right here!" He said, aggravated. How could they just ignore him like this?

The boys paid no attention to him. Instead, the third one said, "Maybe if we cast our lines deep enough, we'll fish his body out!" which was followed by laughter.

Except Jack wasn't laughing. Nothing about the situation was even remotely amusing. They were talking about someone who had _died_ and they were making a _joke_ out of it.

Jack stomped his foot on the thin ice. They still didn't look over.

The older brother added, "Yeah then we'd be heroes!"

All of them erupted into laughter.

"Hello?! I'm not _dead_! I'm alive! Look, I'm _right here_!" Jack was waving his arms, screaming, even jumping around.

"Why don't we actually try it?" the younger brother inquired.

Jack was frantic now. They _weren't listening_! "Can you listen to me for, for, for ten seconds!? I'm not dead!"

"No! His ghost will come haunt us!"

Jack was still truggling to get their attention. The more he struggled, the angrier and desperate he became.

"Oh please. As if you really believe that."

"But what if it's true?"

"It isn't! The kid is _dead_. He's _gone_. There are no such things as ghosts."

Jack pulled at his hair and screamed, "YOU'RE NOT LISTENING! I AM ALIVE!" He conjured a snowball and threw it as hard as he could in the teens' direction. It skimmed the older brother's face. Jack fell to his knees and struggled to keep from sobbing.

"Oh my God! What was that!?"

Suddenly the boys were panicking. They began screaming and running from the lakeside and back into the woods. Jack simply stayed on his knees, his face buried in his hands. After a moment of a failed attempt at composing himself, he looked up at the now vacant area the boys were once in.

In their rush home, they had forgotten their fishing gear.

Jack sniffled and stood on shaking legs. He stumbled to the fishing rods, hooks, and bait. Then he saw it. He just stared at it. It seemed to be calling his name. And he didn't know whether to listen or ignore it.

He slowly picked up the fishing hook. It was so _sharp_. So pointed. So _necessary_. This was his moment. Right here, right now - he could finally find out if he was actually dead or not. Only the dead can't be heard or seen, right? And if you're dead, you can't feel anything, right? You don't need food, don't need sleep... you _don't bleed_.

Tears were still silently streaming down his cheeks as he jerked the sleeve up on his left arm. Jack stared at his skin: it was shiny and so _pale_. Normal people weren't this pale. All the more reason to test his theory.

And so he did it. With one swift motion, Jack Frost jammed the point of the fish hook into his skin.

And pulled. Hard.

A scream escaped his lips. That had _hurt_. But it didn't matter. There was still no blood.

He did it again, screaming louder the second time. This pain was proof enough that he was alive, right? But he couldn't stop, not now. Not until he was certain that he wasn't dead. Not until there was blood shed.

As he began to press the hook into his skin a third time, he stopped. His fingers were stained an ugly, pale red. He glanced at his arm: blood was beginning to seep out from his wounds, oozing into fine streams. They trailed down his arm and he had to pull his hoodie sleeve up higher so they wouldn't get stained.

His arm began to throb. He cried out in pain again as oxygen began flowing into the wounds. He dropped the bloody fish hook to the ground and cupped the wounds with his right hand. He started to back away from the lake, struggling to keep himself from crying more. He felt so _disgusted_ with himself, so _ashamed_. How could he have done this? _Why_ did he do this?

Jack Frost pivoted on his heels and ran.

It was a moment of weakness. And he would never be able to take it back.

* * *

_**A/N:** _

_**Credit for headcanon**: Tumblr user ijackfrost's reply to an anonymous asker._

_Sorry everyone. This was really dark, and I took way too long to get this out. _

_Don't worry, things will not always stay like this. Jack gets better (obviously - he has to). But I had been thinking for a long time "What if Jack had self-harmed when he first found out he was invisible?" Then I read the reply and I had to conjure a story for it. If you're reading this, ijackfrost, I hope I did your reply a little justice. _

_Anyways, thanks for reading. Winter Break has started. Updates should be WAY MORE OFTEN now._

_I read over this several times and saw no errors, but in case I skipped some, I apologize for those. _


	3. Sophie's Favorite Game

_**Author's Note**__:_

_Post-movie._

* * *

**Headcanon:**

**Jack can be seen by small children. This is because they tend to believe in everything and their minds have not been clouded by reality yet.**

**On that note, Jack loves kids aged five and under because they can not only see him but also interact with him.**

* * *

This little girl was truly something else. Every time Jack would comb her blonde, layered bangs back so they wouldn't cover her eyes, she would giggle and tilt her head downwards, resulting in her bangs returning to their former position. She seemed to be enjoying something so simple. Jack smiled. This process repeated several times.

"Pretty white hair..."

Sophie giggled again and reached up for Jack's hair. He tensed slightly and placed his hands on her sides, holding her in place.

"No, Sophie. Don't touch my hair - it's too cold for you." Jack said gently, still restraining the child to his lap. He had taken extra precautions with Sophie: a blanket was draped over his legs and he was sitting next to the fire place in Jamie's living room. Jack knew Sophie could feel his cold skin but she didn't seem to mind, which made him feel better about her sitting on his lap.

"Snow hair..." she said again, reaching up to stoke his hair.

He again resisted.

Sophie still reached for his hair, giggling as if they were playing a game. This carried on for several more minutes before she began squirming. She let out a groan.

"Sophie, what's wrong?"

She continued to squirm and groan, not bothering to answer Jack. He got the hint that she no longer wanted to be sitting in his lap. He finally let her go and she hopped down to the floor, but instead of landing properly, she slipped on ice (inconveniently put there by a certain winter spirit's presence) and fell on her bottom. She immediately started crying.

Jack panicked. The blanket that was draped over his legs fell to the floor in heap as he crouched down in front of Sophie. He stroked her hair and mentally begged her to calm down.

Sophie kept crying. She wouldn't even look up at Jack when he said her name and lifted her chin. With each new tear that fell down her face, Jack was filled with more panic.

He had promised Jamie that he would watch his sister while Jamie was with his friends (what they were doing, he didn't know). Jack would have attended, but since Jamie was Sophie's babysitter, Jamie would have had to miss out on whatever it was he and his friends had planned. Jack volunteered to watch her. Jack couldn't stand to see the dissappinted look on Jamie's face when he remembered that he had to watch his sister.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now... he wasn't so sure. He couldn't figure out a way to make her stop crying!

"Sophie, it's okay. It's okay. You're alright. I promise, I promise... You're gonna... you're gonna be fine," he said reassuringly. Jack winced when he remembered where those words had been spoken before.

Sohpie calmed down with her screaming, but she was still crying.

Jack's face brightened. He had an idea. "Hey, Sophie, you wanna play a game?"

She looked up at him with her big, emerald eyes and sniffled. She nodded.

"We're gonna play... we're gonna play, uh, hopscotch! How does that sound?" he asked merrily.

She looked up at him, sniffled, then giggled. "Okay!"

Jack heaved a sigh of relief.

"Okay! But first you need to put on warm clothes. It's very cold outside."

"Okay, Snowman."

Jack helped the small child stand and walked her to her room. He couldn't help but smile as she opened her dresser drawer and began throwing clothes out of it. She found her favorite sweater and scarf, but struggled to dress herself. Without a second thought, Jack was sitting on his knees in front of her, helping her get her over-sized sweater on.

When the sweater was on properly, he aided her in putting her scarf on. Sophie giggled from excitement as she rummaged through her possessions to find her snow boots. Once she found them, she carried them back to Jack and held them up to his face.

"Shoes, Snowman!"

Jack smirked, gave her an "alright" and slid her rather heavy snow boots on her feet. He slung his staff over his shoulder as he and Sophie walked out of her room. By the time they were at the front door, Sophie was already laughing from excitement.

Jack watched Sophie extra carefully as she jumped down each step of the front porch. He didn't want a replay of what happened last time (even though Abby wasn't there this time). But she made it safely to the bottom and soon the two were in the Bennett's front yard, setting up their game of hopscotch.

"Alright, Sophie. I need you to find me the smoothest, roundest, most coolest looking rock you can. Okay? Bring it back when you do."

She giggled and responded, "Okay, Snowman!"

Jack watched her as she disappeared from view when she cornered the house. He started working on setting up their squares. He used to just use a huge stick in the dirt with his little sister, but the ground here was completely frozen over with snow that had turned into ice.

It was times like these when Jack hated that everything he set foot on froze over.

After some thought, he got to work. Using his staff, he blasted medium-sized squares into the icy snow. Each square was given a beautifully carved number. By the time he finished number ten, Sophie had come running back around with her hands held closely to her chest.

"Alright, Sophie. Show me what you got," he said as he kneeled in front of her.

She giggled as she streched her arms out to Jack. In her hand was a sandy colored snail shell.

Jack let out an exasperated sigh. "Sophie. That's a snail shell. We can't use it."

Sophie's smile faded. "But... Pretty rock."

"Sorry, kiddo. This isn't a rock."

Jack's heart sank when he watched Sophie's eyes get teary. He finally agreed to using the snail shell when he realized she was going to cry until he agreed to use it. After inspecting the shell carefully and coming to the conclusion that it wasn't being used as a home, he placed it back in the little girl's hand. Sophie tossed the shell into the air, giggling the entire time.

The shell landed several feet from the numbered squares. Jack couldn't help but smirk as he watched Sophie run to the shell, pick it up, throw it, and redo the action whenever the shell did not land on a square. After several minutes of trying, she was finally able to get the shell on a sqaure.

When her turn finished, Jack was handed the shell. He lightly tossed it; it landed on number four. He set his staff down and hopped over number four, shouting out "Whoa!" and over-exaggerating his jumps. He flailed his arms around as he balanced himself on one leg when he reached down to pick up the shell.

Their game lasted for quite a while, mostly because Sophie loved seeing Jack so animated. Jack enjoyed entertaining the little girl, too. He saw so much of his sister in Sophie.

Jack hadn't noticed that Sohpie was asleep in the snow until he had finished his turn; he told her it was her turn and she did not respond, she simply slept.

Jack gently picked her up and carried her inside. He slowly placed her on her bed, stripped her down to her pajamas, and tucked her in. This time, however, he made sure she did not roll off the bed.

He sat in the corner and watched her toss and turn. She looked so peaceful. Her cheeks and nose were cherry red, making her appear even cuter as she slept.

Jack couldn't help but smile. Watching Sohpie wasn't a bad idea after all, and he was glad to spend the day with her - even if she still didn't know his name. She enjoyed his company.

And he enjoyed hers.

* * *

_**A/N**__:_

_GOD I SUCK AT ENDINGS. I APOLOGIZE._

_**Credit for headcanon**__: Myself. This story is based off of a real life experience._

_I'm pretty sure this is how Jack would act around a smaller child. And given the way Sohpie cried when she fell in the movie as well as her lack of extensive vocabulary, I saw that the way she acted fit her character as well, since we didn't see much of her in the movie._

_Sorry if there are errors. I miss them sometimes._

_Thanks for reading. I'll update soon._

_EDIT: I saw several errors and wanted to punch a hole in a wall, so I fixed them. Sorry._


	4. Scars and Smiles

**_Author's Note:_**

_Conclusion of "Fish Hooks and Scars."_

_Wanna point something out: in the last chapter I said "hoodie" instead of the off-white shirt he was wearing when he was resurrected (I think it's just a regular shirt or a hunting shirt. I don't really know). My bad. _

_Putting a trigger warning just because this shot contains talk on self-harm. _

_Pre-movie._

* * *

Jack Frost was running. He didn't know for how long or how many miles he had run thus far, but he wasn't going to stop. Not anytime soon.

He could feel his pulse in his wrist. The pain had gone from incredibly intense to a dull throbbing sensation. He had to get these gashes covered, and soon. The amount of blood he was loosing wasn't as much as he thought it would have been, but it was still quite a bit. It made his heart beat faster, made his adrenaline skyrocket. He couldn't go to the village for help, nobody could see him. He didn't want to just take their medical supplies, either, even if he was injured. It just felt wrong to him.

His vision blurred. He wasn't sure if it was because of tears forming in his eyes or loosing too much blood or what, but it frightened him more than it should have.

Jack's sprint slowed to a jog. He finally stopped running and fell to his knees again. He felt sick to his stomach. He was scared to remove his hand from his wrist, but it was better to assess the damage now as opposed to later. After taking a deep breath and attempting to prepare himself, he very cautiously removed his right hand from his left wrist. He should have been curious and shocked, probably abashed, but he was more in awe than anything else.

The small gashes were gone. Not completely, but enough. The blood that had seeped from the wounds when they were opened was still stuck to his cold skin, frozen there, but the slits themselves were just... gone. The only things that remained were two thin, pink scars.

Jack stood and smiled. This was great news. He was healing, and rapidly. That meant that not only was he alive, but he must have some kind of supernatural powers that made him heal faster than your average spirit (he came to the conclusion that he was a spirit. It made sense to him).

Jack tried to stifle a laugh that was bubbling inside him, but it was too much. He let it out, and it wasn't any regular laugh. It was a laugh of relief and happiness.

He looked up at the bright sun that was beaming down on him. It warmed his face and made him feel even more at peace. After he finished his giggle fit, it was decided that his arm should be cleaned. The sight of frozen blood on his arm was beginning to make him sick again.

He picked up a handful of snow and rubbed it up and down his arm to remove the frozen red liquid that was the effect of an irrational decision (regardless of how rational it seemed at the time). Because it was frozen, it took quite a while for the snow to get the blood off his arm. However, he was able to, and then his arm looked good as new... minus the scars, of course.

If it had taken an hour for the wounds to close and scar over, it shouldn't take more than a couple more hours for the scars to completely disappear, right? Jack hoped so. Every time he looked at his wrist, he felt that pang of guilt return.

* * *

Jack was perched in a tree beside the lake again, aimlessly tracing his fingers over the scars on his wrist. He had to restrain himself from scratching them, though. They itched like crazy. But focusing on not scratching his wounds was a lot better than focusing on the trio that had returned to the lakeside. They had come back to retrieve their fishing gear, only to run away again when the youngest noticed there was a blood-stained fish hook lying in the frozen dirt. Seeing that scene unfold before him was more than enough to convince Jack that he needed to leave.

With help from the wind, he was gently deposited to the ground. He snatched his staff and called for the wind to carry him away. It obliged and lifted Jack slowly into the air, trying to balance the helpless seventeen-year-old. Then it swept him away from the lake. He watched as adults began to surround the lake, the three boys returning yet again. The adults were comforting them and asking questions.

Jack just allowed the wind to carry him to wherever it wanted. He still couldn't fly very well, but he didn't care. He just needed to go elsewhere for a while. A moderate snowfall followed closely behind him as he was whisped from city to city by the wind.

* * *

Years had passed since that fateful day at the lake. Years filled with happiness, fun times, and great adventures. Years filled with scary fights, sleepless nights, and watching the world around him change. Years filled with a little pinch of fear that one day he would relapse... that if he did relapse, the cuts would be deeper, there would be more of them.

But Jack remained steadfast. Granted, the urge came back once or twice when he was overstressed and hurt, but never again did he pick up any sharp object with the intention of harming himself.

The scars did not heal one hundred percent, either. They were very faint - you had to strain to see them, but that did not mean that they weren't there. They served as a reminder. A reminder of the person he used to be, how far he had come, how much he had grown.

And Jack was okay with that.

* * *

_**A/N**:_

_Honestly, I struggled writing this. It just seems... meh. Sorry if it dissapoints. _

_Reply to Guest review: I chose "tossed and turned" because it sounded better than "she rolled around on her bed" - because Sophie moves in her sleep, as we have seen in the movie. Also, "tossed and turned" doesn't always have to have a negative connotation to it. Thanks for reviewing! Made my day :)_


	5. Someone Worth Being Selfish Over

_**Author's Note**__:_

_I don't know Jack's sister's canon name (since she did not have one), so I'm going to hop on the bandwagon and call her Emma. _

_Pre-movie._

* * *

**Headcanon:**

**Even though Jack enjoys hanging out with his friends, he enjoys hanging out with his sister much more.**

* * *

"Jack, get down from there!" shouted ten-year-old Emma. She was standing with a group of Jack's friends, all of them watching as Jack scaled a tree and hung upside down from one of its branches. This wasn't the first time he had done this. Last time Emma couldn't join him because she was too scared. This time she couldn't join him because it wasn't ladylike.

The group of kids standing at the base of the tree hollered from enjoyment. The other kids were Jack's friends - Emma just tagged along because she loved playing with her big brother. Jack's friends weren't keen with a small girl running around with seventeen-year-olds through the forest, but none of them would argue with Jack whenever he brought along his sister. He loved her; it was evident in the way he protected her and brought her everywhere with him... but that didn't mean that his friends liked it.

Jack was swinging back and forth, laughing and beckoning his friends to climb with him. Soon all four boys were hanging upside down on the same branch, leaving Emma standing by herself.

"Okay, Jack. Now you _have_ to get down! I don't wanna be alone!"

Jack smiled and continued to swing back and forth, placing a hand on his chin as if he were deep in thought. "Or you could come up here?"

Emma huffed, "You know I can't do that! I can't climb trees and I'm in a dress and it looks really high and it isn't ladylike!"

Jack's friends laughed along with him. "I know, Emma. I was teasing," he said lovingly.

She stomped her foot on the ground. Jack's friends encouraged him to stay in the tree. Jack ran a hand through his russet hair, maneuvered his body until he was hanging right-side-up, let go of the branch, and landed in the grass. He received disapproving groans from his friends, but he didn't care. He didn't want his baby sister upset.

"How about we do something that the both of us can enjoy?" he asked, kneeling so she could look straight at him.

Emma smiled. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted.

"How about we just take you home and then you can let the big boys have their fun shooting some arrows?" one of the boys suggested as he dropped from the tree.

Emma's eyes widened and she stared at Jack with a pleading look.

Jack shrugged, glancing back at the boys that were now gathered behind him, and said, "I guess that works for me."

Emma's jaw dropped. She did her best to protest, but there was no arguing with her brother. He always won. Always. So she just slumped her shoulders and tried to keep tears from dampening her eyelashes.

They spent every day together. They would have puppet shows, play hopschotch, charades... they even shared a bedroom, for crying out loud! Not many people had the privalege of having an older brother as great as Jack, so Emma wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. Sure, she had other friends, but none of them were as close to her as Jack was.

"Okay, fine..." she agreed solemnly. When she glanced up at Jack she saw a glint of mischief in his eyes, but didn't think anything of it. He was probably planning what he and his friends were going to be using as target practice once they dropped her off at home.

The four older boys and one younger girl trekked to the Overland household, everyone chatting save Emma. She was sick to her stomach. Jack would leave his friends to play with her all the time! Granted, it wasn't _every single time_ she asked, but it was often enough. She was just hoping today was one of those days.

They reached the front door. Emma felt fear rise from the pit of her stomach up to her throat. She held her breath.

Jack opened the door for his little sister and she walked in. As he was saying goodbye, their mother stepped into view. "Jack, dear, it's time for dinner."

Jack snickered and asked, "Mother, can I stay outside for just a few more hours? We wanna practice our archery a little more."

His mother warned that his dinner would be cold, but after he explained that he didn't mind, she agreed. Jack entered his home and grabbed his bow and quiver, but as he was walking past Emma and his mother to leave, he stopped and glanced back at Emma. A look of contemplation smothered his face. He poked his head outside (even though the door was open) and said, "You guys can go on. I'm gonna stay and eat with my family."

"But you said that-"

"I know what I said. And I'm changing my mind," he said casually. He recieved a few more complaints from his friends, but he said his goodbye and shut the door. After setting his bow and arrows on the floor, he kneeled and hugged Emma. She didn't realize that she had tears gathering in her eyes.

"Thanks, Jack. I knew you wouldn't just leave me," she whispered.

"I'm just here for the apple pie," he replied with a sweet yet taunting tone.

Emma made a face at him and playfully slapped his shoulder. "Jackson Overland, don't you say things like that!"

The siblings laughed and made jokes with each other as they ate their dinner. Even though Jack swore that he had only stayed because he wanted a hot meal, Emma knew the real reason... and it made her smile even more.

* * *

_**A/N:**_

_**Credit for headcanon**: Myself. :P_

_Just some MAJOR FLUFFFFFFNESS. I guess that is what you would call it. I don't know. But anyway, I am not very proud of this. Don't like it very much. _

_Thanks for reviewing everyone. I might not reply to all of them, but I really do love seeing when you all review. Thank you._

_Sorry if there are errors. _


	6. The Best Weapons In The World

_**Author's Note**__:_

_Saw a gif on Tumblr, got inspired. _

_Post-movie. _

* * *

**Headcanon:**

**Jack loves to read. Once he starts, he cannot stop. **

* * *

Ever since Od (the Spirit of Summer) had begun the summer season, Jack had spent the majority of his time away from the equator - he was mostly in the poles. Jack had tried to spend time in the South Pole, but he had too harsh of memories for the place. The penguins got on his nerves far too much, too, resulting in him spending most of the summer season in North's domain.

North was more than happy to oblige, but Phil and the team of yetis that guarded the castle were not as happy about the mischievous spirit staying. They had spent so much time keeping him out and now he was allowed to roam around as he pleased, much to their dismay.

However, Jack was not in the mood to mess with the yetis today. He had been doing that on almost a daily basis; it seemed to be out of habit now and not for his enjoyment anymore. He just simply became bored with the overgrown bears (as Jack liked to refer to them). So Jack set out to find something else to do.

Santoff Claussen was _huge_. It was so mich bigger than Jack had ever dreamed of. Sure, he had a quick tour and ran around to get a better look at it once, but never did he actually _have the time_ to explore properly. He had to take advantage of this. Who knew what was to be found in this enourmous building?

Jack bet that there were secret doorways that led to other rooms in the household, just like in a board game he and Jamie had played once. Jack didn't really understand the game though - he couldn't fathom why a man named after a condiment could have murdered someone with a candlestick in a library.

Library... When was the last time Jack had been to a library? He didn't have access to the library in his village back when he was mortal - it was filled only with settlement documents.

Once Jack had been old enough to learn to read, he would read whenever he got a chance. The village kids would taunt him for it but he did not care. His mother told him that it was good for him to read. He was the only one in his family that could.

When Jack had risen from the ice, he forgot about books altogether. It wasn't until the Romantic Era that he started reading again (and it had been on accident when he saw a poem on a flyer about a bird that only said "nevermore" to a man who was crying over some girl).

Even to this day Jack could not remember the last book he had read. It wasn't a big deal to him; everyone could read now. But still, in a castle this big, North _had_ to have a library. Maybe he could find a book that had been written back when he was a child - he remembered having books in his bedroom that he would read to his sister before bedtime. Now he was on a mission to find those books.

It took him quite a while, but Jack finally found the double doors of the library. He pushed as hard as he could; both doors creaked as they opened. Jack couldn't help but stare aghastly at what he saw: books. Books everywhere.

Jack's mouth dropped open. He had expected there to be a lot of books, but not _this_ many! There had to have been _thousands_ of books here!

Jack readjusted his staff in his right hand and began walking through the rows and rows of books: they were divided by languages, first off. Within each language they were seperated by fiction and non-fiction, then in each category they had sub-categories like 'adult' or 'children's books' or 'romance.'

Non-fiction was the same way, but with categories such as 'nature' and 'weather' and 'mythology.'

Jack started browsinig through the fiction section of the French and German languages. He pulled two books from each at random and tucked them under his arm.

Surely North wouldn't mind, right? This place _did_ look like it hadn't been set foot in for _years_, anyway. There were books that had to have been hundreds of years old, as well as some that looked to have been published that year (Jack assumed there were yetis specifically for that task). The placed smelled like old wood and paper, too. And the air itself was musty from all the dust, but he didn't mind.

Next Jack strolled to the English language. He saw a bright blue book titled _Goldilocks and the Three Bears_ and did not hesititste to pick it up. He saw another cover that caught his eye. A novel about killing a mockingbird. Jack had heard of it but never read it, so he added that to his slowly growing stack of books in his hands.

Before he knew it, Jack was laying on his stomach on the floor in the reading area of the library, surrounded by at least thirty books.

He was so into reading that he did not hear when North called his name and started a search party for him. He didn't even notice when North and a group of elves waltzed into the library to find him reading. Jack also did not notice that North smiled widely, and without saying a single syllable, turned and walked out of the library, for once leaving Jack to his own devices.

* * *

_**A/N:**_

_**Credit for headcanon**__: Myself; a gif of The Doctor (if I saw it correctly) I saw on Tumblr. _

_Thanks for reading._

_SECOND HEADCANON! Jack is multi-lingual. He had nothing better to do. _

_Just so everyone knows, the title of this chapter is what the gif had as subtitles. It read, "Books! The best weapons in the world."_

_Next update should be soon. Maybe not tomorrow but no later than the day after. _

_As always, sorry if there are any errors. I miss them a lot of the time. _


	7. Learning To Fly

_**Author's Note:**_

_This was inspired by a photoset I saw on Tumblr. Credit at bottom._

_**This is what happens when I try to write a story at four in the morning after waking up from a nightmare and getting on Tumblr to calm myself down. Feel free to judge**._

_Sorry if there are errors. I went over it and fixed a lot but I might've skipped some. _

_Pre-movie. _

* * *

**Headcanon: **

**With the help of birds and the wind, Jack Frost learned how to fly.**

* * *

It had only been a year since he had risen from the icy depths of the lake. Even though the only thing the Man in the Moon had told him was his name, Jack knew that he was supposed to bring winter to the world. Why else would he have been risen from a frozen lake in the middle of December? Maybe that's the way the Man in the Moon works: when he wants someone to do a certain job, he has them born in the environment that he wishes for them to control.

Either way, Jack didn't care - or at least he pretended he didn't. He was just waiting for Freyr to make the day a little more chilly so he could begin his work.

Jack perched on his staff like an owl perches in a tree: silent, unmoving, and waiting. He was getting impatient with the Spirit of Autumn. He had never spoken to Freyr, only seen him from a distance. That was fine with Jack. He didn't need to be friends with Freyr. What he needed was for the autumn spirit to finally give him free reign.

He felt the remaining humidity in the air trail away from his skin. That was his cue.

Jack hopped down from his staff's crook and carried it with him, spinning it slowly. He started tapping on trees and dragging his staff through the grass, coating everything in frost.

As he walked he hummed a tune; he didn't know where he had heard it from, but it was familiar. He continued along his way, tapping at trees, flowers, and grass. As the sun began setting, Jack couldn't help but watch the flocks of geese flying in almost perfect V-formations. He didn't know where they were going, but he did know that they could fly... and he could not. Not very well, at least. Sure, the wind could pick him up and deposit him wherever it wanted, but he could not use it to his advantage like the birds could.

And so it was decided. Tomorrow morning he was going to learn how to fly.

That night Jack did not sleep well. He was too busy frosting things over and thinking about how he was actually going to learn how to fly. Just the thought of flight made his head hurt. How could a human being, weighing at least one hundred pounds, defy the laws of gravity and just fly?

It probably had a lot to do with him being a spirit.

Jack was so deep into thought that he didn't realize the sun had risen. He had worked and thought through the night! That wasn't going to help him focus at all.

Before he knew it, the moment had arrived. He was going to fly - or at least attempt to. He stood at the edge of a cliff that overlooked nothing but forests and mountains. It really was a beautiful sight.

Jack aimlessly spun his staff in his hand, staring ahead of him. How exactly was he going to fly? Did he just jump and hope for the best? Did he ask the wind for help?

He continued watching the birds. All they did was flap their wings and they were flying. Maybe he had to flap his arms as if they were wings and he would fly, too? It couldn't hurt to try.

Jack took a few steps back and inhaled deeply. He prepared himself then ran, but just as he was about to jump off the cliff, he had second thoughts. Jack skidded to a halt and flailed his arms around wildly, shrieking. Unfortunately, he had gained too much momentum and tumbled down to the earth below.

Jack couldn't help but think that this was how he was going to die: falling from a cliff.

As Jack was falling, he saw the birds flying all around him. They didn't seem to even notice that they were flying. They were just _doing it _as if it were nothing, as if it were second nature_. _Jack mimicked the birds - he formatted himself into a stabilized position, keeping a close eye on the birds. They had their wings out; Jack spread his arms out. They banked left, Jack banked right behind them.

He interfered with their V-formation but they didn't seem to care. The geese were just squawking and flying.

It wasn't long before Jack was falling again. He couldn't keep himself stabilized long enough to actually remain in the air! He looked up at the sky and begged the moon to keep him from falling to the rapidly approaching earth below him.

Jack closed his eyes and prepared himself for the imminent _thud!_ that would signify him hitting the trees and falling do the dirt. He shrieked again when he felt himself being propelled back into the air by an incredibly powerful gust of wind. Jack was heaving uncontrollably as he stared out at the scenery before him. He was once again at the same altitude of the geese flying to their destination.

Jack couldn't help but laugh. He looked around him in disbelief, wondering how he was able to float so easily but struggled to fly.

Then it clicked. Jack understood that the reason he wasn't able to fly for such a long time wasn't because he didn't know how... it was because he just wasn't doing it _right_.

He had spent days watched the birds, the way they flew, the way they turned left and right. He had assumed they were in control of the way they were flying. But he realized they weren't in control. The _wind_ was in control. They were flying because the wind _allowed_ them to. The wind was behind their flying abilities the entire time!

Jack shook his head at himself for being so foolish. He should have known.

After being deposited gently to the surface, Jack decided to try again at flying - this time allowing the _wind_ to control _him, _not vice versa_. _

He saw a flock of geese swimming in a lake and slowly stalked them. Once he reached the edge of the lake, he squatted and waited - waited for the moment when the breeze was perfect. When it finally arrived, Jack took off running across the lake, a path of ice forming underneath him and barely keeping his body from falling into the icy water.

The birds squawked and flew into the air, flapping their wings violently.

Jack raised his staff into the air and a gust of wind lifted him high into the sky. He balanced himself, spreading his arms as if they were wings themselves. This time, however, he allowed the wind to control his direction, speed and movements.

The feeling he had was surreal. It felt like nothing he had felt before. His hair was being whipped back and forth, but he didn't mind. The way the wind rushed past his face and completely encased his body was magical. He felt alive, _free_. Like nothing else mattered anymore.

Jack let out a cheer of excitement and pride. He felt safe when he allowed the wind to carry him through the clouds and across the sky. The smile on his face widened when he made another realization: he had made his first friend.

* * *

**_A/N:_**

_Credit for headcanon: dreamworksanimation . tumblr (dot com) /post/35788579009/how-did-jack-frost-learn-to-fly-heres-learning_

_I didn't know how else to credit it, sorry. _

_Thanks for reading. _

_Also, it's up to you if Jack found the books he had initially been looking for. I personally like to think he didn't find them. Haha. _


	8. How Bad Can I Be?

_**Author's Note**__:_

_Merry Christmas, everyone!_

_To me, Overland is Jack's last name, not Frost. I like to believe that "Frost" was given to him specifically by the Man in the Moon. Some people disagree with this, and that's okay._

_Jack is 16 in this story._

_Pre-movie._

* * *

**Headcanon:**

**Jack had a reason for being a bad kid. **

* * *

Emma shrieked for what seemed to have been the thousandth time that morning. The crown of her head was soaked and cold; it was a miracle that her hair hadn't frozen solid by now. She glanced up into the nearest tree to find the culprit. Lo and behold, it was none other than Jackson Overland.

"Jackson Overland! You better stop throwing snowballs at me!"

Her older brother replied by throwing another snowball at her. "And why should I do that?"

Emma, irritated, wiped the melting snow out of her hair again. She stomped her foot in the frozen dirt and gave her older brother her best possible angry face.

Jack just stared down at her with loving eyes and a playful smile. He hung upside down on the tree branch, gathering another snowball in his hands. "I'm doing this for your own good," he called out to his sister. Before she could respond, another cold, poorly made snowball smacked her square in her face.

"Jack! I mean it! You're going to get nothing but coal for Christmas if you keep this up!"

Jack scoffed, "Maybe I _want_ coal for Christmas!"

"Nobody _wants_ coal for Christmas. I can't understand why you do," Emma retorted dejectedly. She rubbed her face to keep it from going numb.

Jack's smile screamed mischief. "It's my life-long dream to hold the record for being on the Naughty List! I will be sure to be on it every year for the rest of my life!"

His little sister stared up at him with wide, tawny eyes, her mouth ajar. She fumbled with her words before finally mustering out, "What!? You wanna be on the Naughty List _every single year_?"

Jack nodded in response. "Yes ma'am. I will do everything I can to be the biggest trickster in the village and be the most naughty child Santa will have ever known."

"But... aren't you even a _little_ sad that you're going to get nothing but _coal_ for the rest of your life?"

Jack's smiled turned into a frown almost instantly, but he turned away so his young sibling could not see it. See, the truth was, as much as Jack loved being a mischievous hellion, getting coal every year was fairly upsetting. Sometimes he wished that he could get normal presents like the rest of his friends and family... but then Jack remembered _why_ he did was he did; his smile returned as quickly as it had left.

Jack climbed down from the tree, his thick snow boots crunching the frozen water beneath them. He made another snowball and tossed it lazily in Emma's direction. She dodged it easily and did the same to him. It wasn't long before the siblings were involved in an all-out war. Several village children joined in, too.

The sun was beginning to set behind the tall, old pine trees, signaling that is was time for the Overland children to go home. Emma complained of her toes, fingers and face being numb, so Jack ran up behind his sister and grabbed her by her sides. He hauled her up onto his shoulders and carried her home, making jokes about the days events and talking about how this year, the duo would finally stay up all night to see Santa come deliver them their presents.

Or in Jack's case, coal.

Emma and Jack bursted through the door of their bedroom. Each ran and flopped onto their bed, giggling like mad. It was already ten in the evening. They had eaten dinner, bathed, set up the cookies and milk for Santa, and were dressed in their best (and only) pajamas; Emma's bed gown and Jack's breeches and night shirt were old and tattered. Jack didn't care, whereas his sister was a tad upset that she did not have new clothes to sleep in, especially since it was a special night. Jack did his best to make Emma happy before she went to bed.

Eleven o' clock rolled around, and Emma was struggling to stay awake. She would constantly talk to her brother about Santa, about how he was going to fit down their chimney, about how she wondered if she would get a new bed gown, and many other things concerning the jolly, old man.

It didn't take very long before Jack was on his knees at his sister's bedside, singing her a lullaby. Once he was certain she was asleep, he silently crawled back into his bed, staring at the ceiling. It wasn't long before Jack himself succumbed to slumber.

Jack awoke with a start, eyes wide and alert. He glanced around the room without moving. Once he assumed it was safe to move, he sat up. He had heard the sound of wooden floorboards creaking. No one, not even Father, would make such a ruckus when walking through the small cottage at night. This could only mean one thing.

Jack threw his blankets off his body and hopped onto the cold wooden floor. He silently skipped to Emma's bed and shook her gently. "Emma," he whispered, "wake up! Santa came!"

Emma's eyes opened immediately and she gasped with excitement. She hopped out of bed and quietly ran out the door with her older brother. They reached the great room in seconds.

Jack briefly surveyed the great room: the fire that had been burning through the night was almost completely out, and there was no more wood in the stock pile (they had been short on firewood all winter). The plate of cookies had crumbs on it, the small Christmas tree was littered with tiny presents, and the Overland kids' stockings were both filled.

Emma squealed and ran to the tree, sliding on her knees as she came to a stop. She grabbed each present and stared at the "to/from" stickers. All of them were addressed to her... none had Jack's name on them,much to her dismay. She bit her lower lip and shivered.

Almost instantly Jack was sitting Indian style beside her, draping his cloak over her small shoulders. She looked up at him and smiled sadly. "None have your name. I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack simply shook his head. "Hey, I still have my stocking, right?" But after retrieving both their stockings, all Jack had in his hands were several large lumps of coal.

Emma frowned and started shivering. "Awh, I'm so sorry Jack. I know it must stink getting coal for Christmas."

Jack messed up his sister's hair and snickered. "It's okay, Em."

"But-"

"Really. I'm not upset. In fact..."

Saying Emma was shocked would be an understatement. She just stared, mouth agape, at Jack as he threw one lump of coal into the fire place. He poked the fire with a stick and added oxygen to it until it caught and was burning bright and warm. Her shocked expression was replaced with a smile that stretched from ear to ear.

Emma had opened one of her presents and was cuddling a big, soft teddy bear, as well as her brother's arm as they sat in front of the fire and watched it burn.

"...I'm glad I got coal."

Jack couldn't help but laugh when Emma opened her second present. She was thrilled to have a brand new, beautiful beige nightgown.

Emma crawled into her bother's lap and, once she got cozy, fell asleep. Jack remained awake and watched the fire burn, steady and seemingly unchanging. He smiled at the ceiling and silently thanked Santa. Jack had his family, his friends, his health. He was originally not going to ask for anything this year, but then he remembered that Santa gave coal to the naughty children. Plus, coal burns warmer than wood, and for longer amounts of time, too.

Jack yawned and smiled again. If he was being bad for the good of others... how bad could he possibly be?

* * *

_**A/N:**_

_Fucking Jack Frost and how he's an adorable little shit. ❤_❤_

_**Credit for headcanon**__: HezuNeual's Naughty For Others. Check it out on deviantART. _

_Thanks for reading. Sorry if there are some errors._

_Title reference: The Once-ler. _


	9. Homework Helper

_**Author's Note**:_

_We get to see Jack be smarter than the average 318 year old (his canon age is 17 [check the RotG app], but now he is technically 318 due to his "birthday" being last week). And I have no shame in saying that I enjoyed typing this one out. I don't care if it seems OOC. I had fun making the winter spirit smart. :P_

_Post-movie._

* * *

**Headcanon:**

**Jack is smarter than he is given credit for.**

* * *

Jamie slammed his palms flat against his desk in utter frustration. This homework was going to be the death of him. How can six out of eight teachers assign homework on a Friday!? A _Friday_ of all days! The only classes he _didn't_ have homework in were PE and Choir - his electives - which _sucked_ because those were the only two classes he was making As in.

Jamie swiftly slid every last piece of paper that was littering his desk to the floor and slammed his head down. He let out a long, loud groan. He repositioned his head, coushining it with his arm, and picked up his pencil. He aimlessly began rolling it back and forth. He was in such a trance that he didn't realize the temperature in his room had dropped twenty degrees.

Jamie was less than excited when Jack Frost finally appeared in front of him.

"Hey, Jamie! You wanna... What's with all the paper on the floor? And why do you look so angry?"

Jamie didn't respond. He just groaned again and forced himself to sit up.

Jack immediatley became worried. "Jamie, is everything okay? Why are you acting like this?"

The oldest Bennett child turned to look at his immortal friend. "Everything's fine. It's just this _stupid_ _homework_! I don't understand _any of it_!"

"Whoa! Calm down, kiddo. I'm sure it isn't that bad. I've helped you with this stuff before, so I can do it again, right? No big deal."

Jamie hopped out of his chair and started picking up the scattered papers. He wasn't surprised that some of them were covered in frost. "You don't understand. This is harder. I don't understand the German, the Quadratic Forumla is a waste of time..."

"Jamie..."

Jamie paid no attention to his friend. "...I don't know what the heck present perfect tense is, I don't understand how you can reach terminal speed going 9.8 kilome-"

"Jamie!"

Jamie's mouth shut closed.

"Just let me see what you're struggling with and I can try to help. If this is harder then we'll work harder. Okay?"

Jamie nodded and placed the fallen papers on his desk. Jack pulled up a chair and sat beside his friend. They studied the papers together.

"Okay, let's try German first. What are you learning right now?"

"German 1. Dative case."

Jack studied the paper for a few moments then laughed.

"What's so funny?" Jamie inquired, exasperated.

"This is so easy! Gimme that pencil!" Jack wasted no time as he filled out the blanks and translated the sentences. He had the worksheet filled, front and back, in mere minutes. Jamie just stared, gaping at his frozen friend.

"How did... You... But, I... What?"

"You didn't know I speak German?" Jack asked incredulously.

"No! Why didn't you tell me earlier!? How long have you been speaking German?

"Uhh... About two hundred years? I spent a lot of time in Germany and just... learned the language. It wasn't hard."

Jamie stated that he could have used Jack as his personal cheat sheet for tests, which made the Spirit of Fun laugh. They moved on to the next subject, which was English. Jack had that paper finished momentarily as well. He received a jealous stare from his human friend but paid no attention to it.

After twenty minutes, the only homework left were the Algebra and Physical Science worksheets.

"Okay. So what exactly _is_ the Quadratic Formula?"

"I don't really know," Jamie replied. "All I know is that it's confusing."

Jack studied the paper intently. He stared at the formula for a long while then back at the first problem. "Hey, kiddo, you got a calculator?"

Jamie responded by handing his graphing calculator to Jack. Jack was about to comment on how huge the thing was, but decided against it. He stared at the paper, then the calculator. After asking his small friend which buttons did which, Jack was punching away at the TI-83.

"The answer to number one is 6 and -2."

Saying Jamie was shocked would be an incredible understatement. He snatched the paper from Jack's frozen hands and stared at the problem then at the calculator. "Please exaplin how you got this answer. Please." His tone was more than aggravated.

"Okay. So you have to find out how 2x² - 8x - 24 = 0, right? Well," Jack began, "first you have to write out the formula. Then, once that's written..." Jack was scribbling numbers and letters as he explained to Jamie, whom was staring at him blankly. "... you plug in these numbers. See, a is 2, b is -8, and c is -24. So you plug all those in, then simplify the square root. So now that you've done that, you divide everything inside the square root by 4, which you got by multiplying 2 and 2."

Jamie just kept watching as the Spirit of Fun explained the problem to him. It seemed so easy when he did it! Why did it seem so difficult for the eighth grader to understand?

"And once you do that, you have eight plus and minus sixteen. So you do that, then you have two plus and minus four. That simplifies to six and negative two," Jack finished explaining. He circled the final answer. "There you have it. See? Easy as pie!"

Jamie just stared at Jack, his mouth ajar. "Why didn't you tell me you were this smart!?"

Jack ruffled Jamie's hair. "You never asked."

"But how did you _know_?"

"I've been around for a long time, Jamie."

The oldest of the Bennett siblings and the winter spirit continued working on Jamie's homework. With Jack's help, the homework was so much easier for Jamie to comprehend. He felt comfortable asking questions and listening to the eternally young teen explain. Jamie mentioned that Jack should be a teacher, to which the winter spirit laughed and responded that he enjoyed making it snow much more.

Lastly, the duo started working on Jamie's science homework. After an elaborate explanation of acceleration due to gravity and several homework problems, Jamie nervously asked, "Jack, you know how you said you like making it snow?"

Jack looked up from solving a problem. "Yeah. Why?"

"Well..." Jamie began, "I was wondering if you... you know... wanted to play in the snow," he finished sheepishly.

Jack's smile turned from inquisitive to impish. He slowly, neatly stacked Jamie's homework papers. He grabbed his staff and gestured to the window. Jamie did not have to look to see that Jack had made it start snowing. The preteen ran to his closet and pulled out his snow jacket and snow boots.

He ran to his bedroom door, called an invitation to his sister, and speedily got dressed. He finished dressing and ran out the front door, Jack following suit.

He was about to begin playing in the snow when his mother called to him from the front door, "Have you finished your homework?"

Jack laughed as Jamie replied, "Yes, mom! I finished it with Jack's help!"

His mother droned an okay as the youngest Bennett made her way to the two boys. The boys accepted her company and began a snowball fight.

Sophie went inside shortly after she arrived... but Jack Frost and Jamie Bennett played in the snow until the sun had almost completely set behind the trees, not a single thought of homework interrupting their fun.

* * *

_**A/N**__:_

_At my middle school, we had eight classes, each divided equally with a lunch break between fourth and fifth period. In this story, Jamie is in eighth grade; my middle school offered high school credits for the 8th graders and, just like I did, Jamie is taking some of them (those classes being German 1, Algebra, and PS)._

_Jack's a smart cookie. Makes him all the more attractive. _


	10. How Bad Can I Possibly Be?

_**Author's Note**__:_

_Alright. Thanks so much Cjabbott for typing this out! This is CJA's work (minus a sentence here and there), so you all get a taste of this great author's writing! :)_

_This is a spin-off of the chapter "How Bad Can I Be?" so enjoy!_

* * *

_Dear Santa, _

_I'm Jackson Overland, and I know I'm on the naughty list (I'm positive I am), but it's for a really good reason. I need that coal to heat the house for winter for my little sister. She worries about so many things (she's too young to worry, if you ask me) and I don't want her to have one more thing to worry about. _

_If I'm being bad for the good of others, how bad could I possibly be? _

_I'd just like you to know why I'm doing what I'm doing, and if this changes anything, that I'd like to keep getting coal every year. _

_Thank you,  
Jackson Overland_

Jack looked over the letter one last time. It had been hard writing this - Emma's school teacher had to teach him how to write since he didn't go to school - but it would be worth it. To see his baby sister's face when he heated the little ramshackle hut with his 'present' would be completely worth it.

...

Jackson Overland was overjoyed yet disappointed as he studied his present. He had gotten coal for Christmas, like he did every year.

He then made his trip to the nearby lake, like he did every year. He went there to mope - as much as he liked getting coal for Christmas, he also hated it. He missed out on great presents yearly. Another reason for traveling to the lake was so Emma did not see him moping. This year, however, there was a surprise for him.

In the middle of the frozen-over lake, there was a small red present with a tag. Jack stumbled out onto the slippery ice excitedly, wondering if Santa got his letter and if he had actually read it.

"To Jackson Overland, the boy on the Nice List," the tag read in beautiful cursive handwriting.

Nice List? It took Jack a moment, but the realization finally sank in.

He made the Nice List!

He didn't understand _why_, but it didn't matter. Jumping around, he heard the ice creak and felt it crack underneath his weight, not quite thick enough to be jumped on. He quickly picked up the present and made his way to the bank, sitting down.

Tearing open the shiny red paper, Jackson was amazed to find that he got a _real_ present. It was a pair of hand-knit blue mittens and a scarf. _He got a present_!

He, Jackson Overland, the boy who couldn't do _anything_ right - the boy who was _always_ playing pranks - got a gift. From _Santa Claus_!

He really was an okay kid after all.

...

300 years later, Jack Frost was on the Naughty List. He didn't think he would ever get off it, and couldn't remember a time when he wasn't. He just wasn't used to being nice (always playing tricks had its downsides).

Whenever Christmas Eve rolled around, he would fly around the globe and wouldn't stop until he was overwhelmingly exhausted. He would collapse in some snow bank or another and fall asleep.

See, his logic was that if he wasn't in one spot, North couldn't give him his yearly coal. It never worked, though.

Every year, without fail, he would awaken the next morning and he would find a little, neatly wrapped, dirty-with-coal-dust present beside him. He never had to open them anymore. He knew what the little box contained.

Call it habit from a tradition long forgotten or call it a coincidence, but the day after Christmas, he always did something nice. He would find a child who was struggling with keeping warm. Jack would remove the tag and leave the present under the tree or in their stocking.

_Don't worry_, he would write, _you're not on the Naughty List. This is just to keep you warm in the winter. Use it well. From, Santa._

_..._

Miles away in the North Pole, North was watching Jack Frost, the boy who was always playing pranks. The winter spirit reminded Nicholas St. North of a child long forgotten.

Maybe he wasn't such a bad kid after all.

Maybe he deserved a chance.

* * *

_**A/N**__:_

_Great right? Shorter chapter than what you usually read from me, but not all chapters have to be 1,000+ words, right? _

_Thanks for supporting me and thank you all so much for reading!_

_**Reply to She Who Dreams Of Tomorrow**: Since Jack spent a lot of time in Germany, he would have learned how to read German, too. The signs over there aren't in English, haha. Also, when you learn a new language, 50% is hearing it and 50% is reading and writing it. Thanks for mentioning that!_


	11. The Grey

_**Author's Note**:_

_Pre-movie._

_I picture the Overland cottage to look like this: a great room, two bedrooms and a wash room (bathroom w/o a shower because they didn't have running water back then). All ground level. _

_Jack is 17. _

_Summary: Jackson and Emma Overland's hike makes a turn for the worst. _

* * *

"Hey, Emma, is everything packed?"

The small girl looked up from her knapsack and nodded excitedly. "Yeah, Jack! We have everything we need!"

Jack kneeled beside his sitting sister and studied the contents of her bag: a water gourd with the cap tightly fastened, a pair of white socks, two red apples, and a small blanket neatly folded.

"Great. We have everything we need. You ready to go on an _adventure_!?"

The small girl yelped with joy. "Yes!"

"Okay, but first, you need to go tell Mother that we are going on a hike, okay? I'll hold on to our stuff."

Emma Overland jumped up and ran out of sight, leaving Jack alone in their bedroom. Once he was certain she was gone, he jumped up from the floor and quickly fled the room. He peeked into his mother's bedroom and saw that it was vacant. Rushing in, he yanked opened the woven basket sitting at the foot of her bed and pulled out a hunting knife, a piece of flint, and a small lump of coal.

"Better get ready, Em. We're gonna have some fun," he mumbled.

Jack barely made it back into his bedroom and sat on the floor when Emma came rushing in, hollering that they could go on their highly anticipated hike. The siblings promptly left their cottage and started into the woods.

"Now," Jack said in his best tour-guide voice, "to your left we have the woods, and to your right we have_ the woods_. Only the best of explorers journey into _the woods_, like myself."

Emma giggled, trying to keep pace with her brother. "So which are we going to be journeying into today?"

"We, little lady, are going into _the woods_."

Emma tensed._ The woods_ is where the older men - like Jack and the other men of their village - went to hunt. But Emma didn't see Jack's bow or his quiver with him - just his staff and her knapsack on his back. She actually couldn't _see_ the bag because it was covered by his cloak, but she knew it was there.

"But isn't that dangerous?" she asked, eyes wandering everywhere but her brother. Suddenly it seemed as if the forest grew dark. "Did... did Father used to come in the bad woods?"

Jack's heart wrenched. He bit his lower lip and squeezed his eyes shut. He would not cry. "Yeah," he said after a long moment of silence, "he did. With me and some of the other men in the village, too. We would hunt together."

Emma did not notice Jack's sudden change in mood. She was too busy feeling guilty for bringing up their father. But Emma looked forward and kept walking, confident that Jack would protect her.

The Overland siblings wandered through the woods for almost an hour before Emma stopped their walking. "Do you hear that?"

Jackson did not hear anything save the birds chirping. He strained and listened for a moment - then he heard it: the faint, distant sound of rushing water.

"Yeah, I hear it."

"Can we search for it? Please, please, please? I have never seen a waterfall and this is the perfect chance!"

Jack didn't like the idea. These parts of the woods had bears and wolves. Dangerous creatures that would not hesitate to rip their frail bodies to shreds in an instant. Sure, Jack had a knife, but that couldn't - _wouldn't_ - protect them. But Emma was so persistent, and seeing the plea in her eyes made Jackson Overland cave and say yes.

Emma squealed and ran ahead of him, screaming out how excited she was. After being reprimanded by her brother, she stayed by his side, in awe of her surroundings.

The Overland siblings wandered in the forest for two more hours before Emma began complaining that her feet were aching. Jack picked her up and carried her on his back; the weight of a bag, a child, and the previous hours of walking left him exhausted. He was also hungry, but that wasn't a major issue at the moment. It was for Emma, however. She would constantly complain about an aching stomach due to being hungry.

Jack finally set down the small girl and opened the backpack; Emma had packed merely two apples. Jack pulled one out and sliced it in half with the knife. Emma gave him the Third Degree about it, but after voicing his argument, she silenced.

They ate their apple slices in silence.

The sun had almost completely set behind the trees now, and Emma was jittery and on-edge. She was always either holding her older brother's hand or being carried by him.

"Jack... Where are we?"

Jack stopped walking and took in his surroundings. There wasn't much to see - trees, grass, dirt - but none of looked familiar. _Wait_...

_None of it looked familiar_.

Jack panicked inwardly. He had been so occupied with finding the waterfall (it did seem as if they were getting closer because the sound of running water was much louder now) that he wasn't paying attention to where they were actually going! When he and his father would hunt in these woods, his father would always tell him that if you got lost in _the woods_, you were likely never going to find your way out.

"We're in the woods," he answered simply. It was easier to state the obvious than to admit that he did not know.

"But _where_?"

"Emma, look at me. Do I look like I know what I'm doing?"

The youngest Overland stared into her brother's tawny eyes. "No."

Jack snickered and kneeled down to her eye level. "Well, I do. And I know it's dark and I know you're cold and scared, but as long as I'm here, you'll be okay, alright? I won't let anything bad happen to you. I promise. You're gonna be fine."

Emma nodded slowly. She wrapped her thin arms around her brother's neck and he picked her up, holding her as a mother would a sleeping child.

Several minutes later, Emma was walking again, holding Jackson's hand. The sun was completely gone now; their only source of light was the moon.

Just when Jack was certain that he had found a clearing in the trees, he heard a twig snap. He abruptly stopped walking and shushed Emma when she attempted to speak.

Jack strained to see in the darkness. That twig snapping was not his nor his sister's doing - he was sure of that. It was a third party, some_one_ or some_thing_ in the darkness.

That was when he saw them: small, beady, luminescent eyes staring at him from afar.

It was a pack of wolves.

* * *

_**A/N**:_

_Whoops cliffhanger. Sorry. _

_I also apologize for taking such a long while. Life sucks, you know? I'm not proud of this either. I have next-to-no muse anymore so it is difficult for me to type anything. But I will not stop... Not this time. _

_Thanks for reading and reviewing. You do not know how much I appreciate it. _

_Sorry for errors. _


	12. The Gonners

_**Author's Note**:_

_Continuation of "The Grey."_

* * *

"Emma. We're gonna play a game. Okay?" Jackson Overland whispered to his younger sibling as she stood frozen in a mixture of confusion and fear.

"I don't wanna play any games, Jack," she whispered back. She didn't know why Jack was so quiet and edgy, but she didn't like it. She knew from past experiences - from being in indirect danger to aiding him in his shenanigans - to mimic his actions. And so she did.

"Well... This game is, is different. This game is, uh, uh, _fun_. And I won't be playing any tricks." Jack's voice was surprisingly calm and steady - the exact opposite of how he felt.

Emma whimpered an okay. If there was a time when she needed to put complete trust in her older brother, this was it.

"We're gonna play _I Spy_. You start," Jack commanded.

Was he serious? Emma did not want to play _I Spy_, she wanted to know why her brother was acting the way he was! But she obeyed; Emma looked around the dark forest without moving her head. After a moment, she saw what Jack was looking at. Emma Overland felt tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. She forced them back. She would not cry. Not now. "I spy with my little eye... something scary that's staring back at me."

Jack's stomach tightened. "A bird?" He asked, trying to lighten the fear surrounding them - to no avail. "My turn."

Emma did not comment on how he was speaking out of turn. She just watched him slowly study the forest. There wasn't much here. He must've been doing something besides finding something to spy.

"I spy with my little eye..." Jack was frantically searching for somewhere safe to put Emma. Wolves couldn't climb trees, but bears could. However, bears were not as common in these parts of the forest; wolves were more of a threat. He decided that tree climbing would be easiest. He found the perfect tree just ten feet from his left. His grip on his staff tightened. "Somewhere that we could be safe. To my left."

Emma looked to her left and saw the tree her brother was speaking of. "Jack, I can't climb trees. You know that."

"Which is why you're going to climb on my back. I will be using both my hands to climb. You're going to hold on to me and the staff. Now, I'm going to move towards you. I want you to stay put. Don't move until I say. Understand?"

Emma responded by staying as still as she possibly could.

Jack very slowly inched to her. He maneuvered the knapsack to Emma's back, not breaking gaze with the sets of eyes staring back from a distance. He did the same with his cloak, stuffing it in the knapsack. He handed her the staff and she held it tightly as she slowly climbed on her brother's back.

The wolves took two steps forward when the humans made the last action, but did nothing more.

Jackson Overland's heart was pounding so hard against his ribcage that he could hear it in his ears. "Hold on, Emma."

Emma whimpered. The tears were flowing freely now. She was shaking violently, but did not let go of her brother.

Jack took a wide side-step to the tree.

The wolves moved in unison, the leader of the pack letting out a growl.

The oldest Overland child inhaled deeply. Then he ran.

The wolves were already running towards the humans, and they were closing in fast.

"Hang on!" he shouted. Jack grunted as he slammed his body against the trunk of the tree. His feet got enough traction to lift him from the ground and he frantically clambered up the tree. He could hear Emma screaming. Then he felt a tug on his neck.

He knew what the meant.

No. He would not let this happen. _No_.

"Emma, the staff!" he shouted. "_Hit it hit it hit it hit it hit it_!"

Jack kept climbing. A small arm pulled away from his neck. He felt Emma's arm - the one that she was using to hold onto him with - losing its grip from around his neck. He could _feel_ Emma struggle to do as he was asking. He could _feel_ the staff hitting the wolf's jaw that was clutched onto the train of Emma's dress.

Then Jack felt a release and a whimper.

Emma's arms latched around his neck again in a death grip. The last of his adrenaline was wasted in propelling himself higher. He gripped a larger branch tightly and pulled himself and his baby sister out of the reach of the wild beasts.

He heard the staff crash to the dirt. He heard Emma screaming. He heard the wolves growling. But above all, he heard the sound of maniacal laughter in the back of his mind. And that scared him to the nth degree.

Jack clamped a hand over Emma's mouth. After she stopped screaming, she and Jack cautiously climbed higher into the tree and rested at a branch large enough for Jack's body to fit comfortably in a sitting position. He did just that.

Jack pulled the cloak out of the knapsack and draped it around his shoulders then wrapped it around his shaking baby sister.

"Jack, I'm c-cold..."

"Shhh... I know. I know. It's okay. It's okay. I'll keep you warm."

Emma snuggled against her brother and soaked up his heat.

"Are... are we gonna die?"

"No. No, no, Emma. We aren't. I promise, I promise. We're gonna be fine. We'll go home, a-and we'll eat the best tasting apple pie Mother has ever made, and-and we-we'll skate on the lake, and we'll sleep in our warm beds and drink tea by the fire. I promise... We'll be fine. But tonight I need you to be strong, okay? We're probably going to be sleeping up here tonight. But don't worry. I'll protect you and keep you warm."

Before long, Emma was curled in her brother's arms, asleep.

But Jack remained awake, staring at the top of his baby sister's head, too scared to look anywhere else.

The laughter was there again; cold, paralyzing _fear_ coursed through his body.

In that moment he couldn't help but wonder if the words he had spoken were actually true or not.

* * *

_**A/N**:_

_Sorry for errors._

_Thanks for reading. _


	13. The Guilt

_**Author's Note**:_

_Continuation of "The Grey" and "The Gonners."_

* * *

She awoke screaming and thrashing violently.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly to his chest, whispering calming words into her ear.

She slowly, slowly stopped squirming and looked up at him with wide, red, puffy eyes. Tears stained her cheeks.

This wasn't just a nightmare or some sick joke. This was living Hell.

And she was experiencing it full force.

He soothed her until the tears stopped flowing. How long had she been crying? It didn't matter. They were in danger; their lives were at stake. All because she wanted to have a little _fun_.

Why did this kind of stuff only happen to _her_?

"Hey, hey... How are you holding up? You cold?"

She shook her head and pressed her body closer to his chest. He was warm, her sanctuary. She felt his arms wrap tighter around her frail figure. When she was with him she couldn't be scared if she tried. Not when he was so protective over her.

For a nanosecond she forgot that she was in any danger at all. She felt safe, at peace. That was interrupted with the chilling reminder that there were carnivorous beasts watching her. She couldn't see them, but she they were there.

"Is it morning?" The question was so quiet she wasn't sure he heard her.

"No. It's still dark. You were asleep for about an hour."

It didn't surprise her that he did.

She felt him shift on the tree branch. She could hear his heart beating. It should have calmed her - it usually does - but its pace made her edgy.

"Jack, I wanna go home," she complained.

"I do too, Emma. But we can't. Not now."

"Then when?" her voice cracked as she tried to keep from sobbing.

He didn't know how to respond. He _wanted_ to tell her that everything was going to be okay, that all this would end soon. He _wanted_ to tell her that they would make it home safe and sound. He _wanted_ to tell her that by the morning they would be home, but he couldn't because he didn't know if they would even _live_ to see the sun rise. He didn't _know_... and that scared him.

"I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to you, and I plan on keeping that promise. Just close your eyes. You'll be alright."

His baby sister did everything in her power to keep from crying as she listened to the horrors that lie beneath her.

The wolves were still down there, waiting. They must have some kind of _knowing_ that told them the humans would have to come down the tree sooner than later, and when they did the wolves would have their dinner, because they were relentless in their waiting.

She tried not to think about it. She just prayed that she would fall asleep again, and when she woke there would be a roof over her head and a mattress under her body. But instead of what she wished for, she awoke a second time, thrashing and screaming as she had previously.

She was still surrounded by pitch black, but this time the darkness did not scare her.

Her brother gently moved her from his lap and they ate the second apple (she did not deem it fair that she got the larger portion of the apple, though her brother claimed otherwise). Once they finished, the siblings moved themselves to another branch and she watched as her older brother gathered a small bundle of branches and attempted to start a fire. Though it did not work - and it was also declared a terrible idea - they still managed to keep warm.

Neither of them slept the remainder of the night. They had grown accustomed to the sound of the wolves barking and chasing the shadows.

His sister did not seem to notice, but he, on the other hand, did. He noticed the wolves' strange behavior. They would be lying in the dirt, lounging when one would stand and begin growling at seemingly nothing. Then another, and another, and another would stand and follow the lead of the first. Soon the wolves were circling the tree, growling and making sharp, piercing barking noises. Sometimes they even snapped their teeth as if they were biting into something. Other times they would whimper and hide away, as if _they_ were the ones being tormented.

It was a very strange thing to wittiness. Had the teenager not been so terrified for his life he would have found it amusing.

Just as the day had become night, the nighttime retreated and daytime took over.

He was nodding off, but was startled awake when he heard the deafening scream of his sister:

"_Help_!"

His inital thought was the she has fallen, but that faded when he saw her still sitting on his lap. He quickly shushed and reprimanded his baby sister. "What's the matter with you!? Why are you screaming? No one can hear us!"

"We didn't go home last night, Jack! There might be people looking for us! And you don't know if they _can_ hear us or not!"

Her reasoning did seem, well, reasonable. There probably were people looking for them right now, praying to the heavens that they were safe.

They both cried out in desperation for what seemed to be an eternity. So long, in fact, that by the time help arrived, neither could speak - their voices were completely gone.

Several emotions flooded his body as he watched the scene unfold: there had to have been twenty men, armed, that came running to them. They saw the pack of wolves and became animals themselves. The pack of five was no match for the group of twenty, though each side put up a good fight. He kept his baby sister covered; she could only hear the screaming of the men and yelping as each dog met its fate.

He got the okay from the men to lower his sister down. Before he did, he looked at her with guilty eyes.

She was scarred for life because of him. She would probably have nightmares for weeks because of him. She would never play outside because of him. She might not even make a trip to the front door because of him. But then he remembered that she was strong, a fighter. Sure, she was young, but she was smart, aware. She could handle whatever life threw her way.

He climbed down from the tree after gently lowering his sister into the arms of one of the men.

He fathered their things and the entire group walked back to the village in total silence.

He accepted his punishment without contention. Every slap, scold, rant, all of it. He apologized to his sister every day for weeks, did little things to attempt making it up to her.

She was better off than he - it was obvious from the day they returned.

The first week she slept with him, curled against him as she had been in the tree. After, she slept in her bed and periodically stayed with him in his. It did not take her much more time before life went on as if nothing had happened.

The thing that shocked him the most was not that she recovered from it quickly, but it was that _not_ _once_ did she wake in terror from a nightmare. She slept soundly every night.

He was not so lucky. The _guilt_ of what could have happened, how he had put his baby sister in danger, ate him alive for _weeks_. Nightmares were a constant thing for him - alternate endings to their adventure, most terrifying.

But they were alive, they were safe, they were home. And that was all that mattered.

* * *

_**A/N**:_

_Sorry for errors._

_Thanks for reading._

_I tried to write this without using Jack's or Emma's name. **I don't like this chapter at all. Ehhh I suck. **_

_I'm proud that I didn't use their names (aside from when they addressed each other), but you probably won't see another fic like that again. Haha it was so difficult!_


	14. The Godsend

_**Author's Note:**_

_I've decided to include the other Guardians in my stories more often now. They need some love, too. But these will still focus on Jack. ;)_

_Some more of the "G" series, but not really a continuation._

_I had school start up and it's been hectic. Sorry. _

* * *

The only thing E. Aster Bunnymund enjoyed more than coloring his Easter eggs was delivering them to their hidden locations _himself_. After such a long time in the egg coloring-and-delivery buisness, he had learned new, more efficient ways to get his eggs out in the world for children to find. His eggs basically colored themselves now, giving the pooka ample time to hide his creations all over the globe.

He had made it a habit to scout the planet two weeks before the big day to see which places the eggs would be best suited for hiding. This was probably the most difficult part of his job; he would run into all kinds of trouble on his travels - from snakes in the Amazon to bears in northern Asia to wolves in the New World out west.

He was bounding through a thick forest, taking note of which places he saw humans and which he didn't. He had planned on continuing in he direction he had started in, but stopped abruptly when he saw a young girl with an older boy, probably in his teens, standing perfectly still.

Now what are they doing out here in the middle of the night? "Hey," he called, "are you alright?"

He watched the older carefully pick up the little girl and stand there until she was securely on his back.

Bunny had a rock in the pit of his stomach. He knew something was wrong, he could sense it. But he wasn't entirely sure, because there were no sounds being made, no one was moving save the two kids.

He watched the boy take a wide step to his left, then Bunnymund heard a growl. The rock became a boulder. He watched in horror as the boy tried to scramble up a tree as a wolf bit into the little girl's dress.

"Holy dooley!" he shouted as he rushed to the humans. The little girl was hitting the wolf with the staff she had been holding, but it wasn't doing any good. She was about to let go, about to lose her life! Bunnymund was _not_ going to allow that. He let out a cry as he tackled the wolf to the ground.

He glanced up in time to see the boy scaling the tree to safety, the little girl still on his back.

A short sigh of relief was all Bunny was able to get out, because the wolves were now attacking him. He attempted to stand, but he was knocked down again. He was too busy keeping the wolf from biting into his neck to reach for his boomerangs.

"You're about to make me crack a fruity, mate! I suggest... You... get off me!"

The struggle lasted for a good twenty minutes. Bunny had been pushed around, knocked into the tree, and thrown around, but that didn't mean he didn't have his moments of victory. It wasn't until he had used his boomerangs to subdue the beasts that they left him alone.

He threw himself up against the trunk of the tree, boomerang in each hand, standing guard over the children.

He called to them several times, asking if they were okay and what their names were, but he slowly came to the realization that they couldn't see or hear him, and that meant that they didn't believe in him. The older one was understandable; children usually stopped believing in things like the Easter Bunny as they start growing older. But the smaller girl was a different story. Maybe she had never heard of the Easter Bunny before and that was why she didn't believe, or maybe her brother had convinced her otherwise.

Either way, Bunnymund was going to stay with these kids until their savior arrived.

He watched them carefully - "them" being the wolves _and_ the children - as they stayed stationary. The girl was asleep and her brother seemed to be in some kind of trance, just staring ahead. The wolves were the same; some were sleeping, others staring into the distance.

Bunny was galvanized by the sound of the little girl screaming and flailing her arms around. He was relieved when her brother finally calmed her. Needless to say that had awoken the remainder of the wolves, and all five of them were now circling the tree, growling lowly.

Bunnymund made his best growl back at them, throwing out threats and warnings.

It wasn't until the crack of dawn that help finally arrived, but _that_ didn't happen until the two humans had been _screaming _for quite a while.

And when help did arrive, Bunnymund knew that another fight was about to commence.

* * *

Humans are such violent creatures. They destroy so much, and they never care if anyone or anything is in their path. They just go and go and go until there is nothing left.

Of course Bunnymund helped the humans take down the wolves; he had a job to protect children, and those wolves were putting the children in danger. Any other day, he wouldn't have messed with the wolves - he wasn't one to just go attacking things when they got too close.

He felt sorry for those creatures, in a way. They were probably hungry and needed food. Bunnymund knew how that felt - the feeling of hunger when there's no food can be a terrible one.

Still, the deed had been done. He had helped save those two kids. He followed them to their home, bruised, scratched, and probably bleeding. He had to ensure that they were indeed out of harm's way. He couldn't, _wouldn't_ let them experience something like that ever again.

The boy, Jackson, was crying as he ran with his sister to a woman they called "Mother." He was yelling apologies and promises. He was very remorseful for putting his baby sister through that experience. Even though they did not see Bunnymund, he had seen them.

He thanked the Man in the Moon for directing him to these kids. At first, Bunny thought that he had just been wandering through the woods, searching for new places to hide eggs, when all this time, it was really the Moon's doing that he had run into those kids.

"You kids stay safe, okay?" he said slowly.

Bunny turned and began to walk away when he heard a "Thank you!" called out behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw Jackson staring in his direction, waving a hand as if he were saying goodbye.

There was one man standing about twenty feet in front of the pooka, and he figured the boy was calling to the human, but Bunny waved a paw back at the kid anyways. Immediately after he did, the boy smiled.

If Bunny hadn't known any better, he would have actually believed that the boy could see him the entire time.

* * *

_**A/N:**_

_Whoops, life started getting difficult and I wasn't able to write. _

_School has started again and I have PreCal now. Updates might be every so often now. Sorry guys. _

_Do you guys think that Jack could see Bunny, or was it a coincidence that he happened to be standing near that man when Jack waved? _

_Sorry for errors. I rushed through this to get it out today. I might correct it later. Might not. _


End file.
